Girl in the Middle
by FiKA
Summary: Money's tight. Really tight. So, when faced with financial problems, Hal and Lois rent out Francis' old room. But what happens when their tenant is a girl?
1. Prolog

Title: Girl in the Middle

Author: FiKA

Genre: Humour/Romance

Rating: PG-13, may go up to R

Summary: Money's tight. Really tight. So, when faced with fincial problems, Hal and Lois rent out Francis' old room. But what happens when their tenant is a girl?

DISCLAIMER: I do not own the right to the show 'Malcolm in the Middle' or any of the characters of that show.

Author's Notes 1: This is my first Malcolm in the Middle fic, please be patient with me.

Author's Notes 2: This is set while Francis is the Academy. There is no Piama. Piama is evil.

Author's Note 3: I am currently without a spell check or beta reader. If anyone is interested in betaing for me, please leave your e-mail address in a review.

Now, on with the story!

* * *

"So, we'll pay the phone bill next month."

"Hal, the phone bill is on final notice, they all are." Lois reminded her husband.

"Not this one." Hal replied, picking up an envelope.

Looking hopeful, Lois grabbed the envelope from him. "Hal, this is from last month." Lois rifled through the large stack of bills in fron of her. "And this month, it's final notice too."

"I know, I was just trying to make you feel better." Hal admitted.

"What are we going to do? We are so behind...." Lois asked, trailing off for a few seconds. "You know, I may have an idea."

* * *

A/N: Yes, short I know, but it's just the prolog. Chapter one to follow shortly.


	2. Chapter One: Welcome to the Family

Chapter One: Welcome to the Family

Author's Notes: Malcolm's monologues are in italics, and I'm still looking for a beta.

* * *

_"Money's a little tight right now," Malcolm explained as the family was eating breakfast. "And Mom had a brilliant idea. Rent out Francis' room. I pity whoever got suckered into that."_

**Flashback**

"Mom, I appreciate that you and Dad were gracious enough to let me have my own room." Francis started.

"Good."

"But it's a little small." Francis answered.

"What are yout alking about? It's perfectly sized for one person." Losi replied.

To prove his point, Francis tried to open the door, only able to do so about half-way. "The door hits the dresser when you try to open it."

Lois looked thoughtful for a moment. "Move the dresser." She finally replied and walked away.

**End Flashback**

_"To say it's a little small is like saying Dewey's only a little strange." Malcolm summarized._

"Is the new boy going to be my friend?" Dewey asked.

"Well, son-" Hal started

"What's his name?"

"Aron, Aron Parker sweetie." Lois replied quickly.

"Is he going to be the new Francis?"

Reece dropped his spoon into the cereal bowl. "No way. You can't just replace Francis. That has to be illegal."

Lois rolled her eyes at the boys. "We're not replacing Francis. We're just renting out his room."

"What time is Arom coming, Mom?" Malcolm asked.

"Sometime this afternoon. You know what this means, boys."

"Cleanup." The boys said in unison.

**Later that Afternoon...**

The house is still being cleaned. Hal is vaccuming the living room while Dewey picks up toys and garbae that had been left lying around . Lois is in Francis' cleaning it out. Reece was given bathroom duty and Malcolm is cleaning the kitchen.

"Mom, I have cleaned the toilet twice, it isn't going to get any cleaner." Reece whined from outside the bedroom's closed door.

"Do it again. I want to be able to eat out of that bowl." Lois ordered.

_"Mom's on a cleaning rampage. Becasue we all know how teenaged boys are impressed by cleanliness." Malcolm explained sarcastically_.

"Malcolm, I don't hear scrubbing." Lois shouted.

Malcolm rolled his eyes and continued to scrub. A few minutes later, there was a knock at the door.

"He's here!" Reece and Dewey said and ran towards the door. Lois stopped them by grabbing thier collars before they opened the door.

"Boys, line up. We have to go over the rules." Lois ordered and the boys did as they were told. "There will be no wet willies, no purple nurples, no charlie horsing muscles, no anything else you may think of. Do I make myself clear?" The boys mumbled a reply. "Okay then." Lois put her hands on Dewey's shouldersas Hal opened the door.

"Hi." A red headed girl said and waved quickly, knocking one of the duffel bags off of her shoulder.

"Dear, I think you've got the wrong place." Lois replied sweetly.

"Oh, this isn't Hal and Lois Wilkerson's place? The girl asked, digging around in her jeans pocket. "I could have sworn this was the address."

"Well, I'm Lois and this is Hal." Lois answered. "Who are you?"

"Oh, I'm Erin. Erin Parker." The girl replied, extending her hand to a shocked Hal.

The boy's jaws dropped. "Mom, what did you say about purple nurples?" Reece asked. Lois rolled her eyes and smacked the back of his head.

* * *

A/n: Dun dun dun! So what do you think? Leave a review and let me know!


	3. Chapter 2: What to do Now?

A/n: Hey Everyone! I'm sorry for not updating, but the computer died, and my teachers are a little heavy on the homework. I'm taking a break from the two essays I have coming due in the next couple of weeks.

So, I forgot to say this before, but there is going to be a Francis/Erin pairing. I think I'm more into Francis than any of the other characters on the show.

I wil try to make the parts longer. The first part was short from the beginning, but it gets longer from here on out.

Thank you for all the reviews and only one flame. In fact, it's the first flame I have ever gotten. Too bad it had to be my first review for the story as well, but I'm glad it didn't stop the nine others that reviewed from reading.

**X**

Chapter 2: What to do Now?

**X**

"You're not a boy." Hal said after a few moments of silence.

"Not since the last time I checked." Erin joked. "I'm sorry to be rude, but could I come in? These bags are killing me."

"Of course." Lois said. "Boys, get the bags. Come on in, Erin." Reese and Malcolm groaned, but retrieved the bags. "Boys, why don't you take Erin into the living room and watch television? Your father and I need to talk."

Hal pointed his finger. "You're not a boy."

Erin shook her head.

"Now, Hal." Lois said more seriously as she pulled him into the bathroom.

Erin sat down on the couch and the three boys stared at her. "You're really hot." Reese said out of nowhere.

"Thank you?" Erin replied hestitintly.

_This should be interesting." Malcolm said with a smile._

**X**

"She's not a boy." Hal stated again.

"Yes, we established that," Lois replied. "Now, what are we going to do?"

"She can't stay here." Hal answered. "Not with the boys and thier hormones. I saw it in thier eyes Lois, they have unclean thoughts all ready."

"Of course they do, they're teenagers. We'll just have to set some ground rules."

"I knew from the beginning that this was a bad idea." Hal murmured.

"Well, what do you want to do, Hal? We need the money. It's either this or you get another job."

"Fine. She stays."

**X**

"So why are you living here?" Malcolm asked. "I don't even want to live here, and you're paying to."

"My parents travel a lot, and they don't want me home by myself." Erin explained, leaving out the part about the party she had held that had left the house a disaster and one teenager pregnant. And the part of how her parole officer insisted she not be alone at home anymore. "Why wouldn't you want to live here? It seems really nice."

"You'll see." Malcolm reassured her.

**X**

"Erin, may we speak with you?" Hal asked about twenty mintues later. Erin nodded and followed the parents into the kitchen and sat down at the table.

"As you can tell, we were expecting a boy." Lois began.

"Yeah, I picked up on that." Erin replied.

"But that's our own fault, so we're going to let you stay." Hal replied quietly. "But there are going to be some guidelines. We have young boys here."

"Of course." Erin replied.

"No scanty clothing, no feminem underwears," Hal cringed. "Left out...."

**x5 mintues laterx**

"And for the love of all that is good, don't leave feminem hygiene products out. That's the last thing the doctor needs to find in Dewey's stomach."

Erin laughed uncomfortably and turned to Lois. "He's joking right?"

Lois shook her head.

"Oh, that's gross." Erin said.

"Why don't we show you to your room?" Lois asked after a few moments of silence and before Hal thought of anything he needed to add to his guidelines.

**X**

**1 week later**

_"It's been a week," Malcolm said. "And I think it's safe to say Erin been accepted into the family."_

".....And then I met the President and we went to McDonald's." Dewey said as he followed Erin into the kitchen.

"That's really great, Dewey." Erin replied, half-listening, sitting down at the table sext to Reese. She accidently dropped a fork and bent down to pick it up, unintentionally giving Reese a shot of cleavage.

"Excuse me." Reese said in a squeaky voice adn went walking down the hall to the boy's bedroom.

_"And Reese, he's spent more time locked in the room than ever before. I told Dewey he's shy, but even he's starting to not believe me."_

**Later that night**

Francis quietly came in the back door , not wanting to wake anyone up. He had planned to come home and surprise everyone, but his bus had been delayed. It was now three AM , so he decided to wait until morning to tell his parents he was home. Tiredly, he made his way to the bathroom where he quickly stripped down to his boxers and went to climb into his bed. Careful to open the door so it didn't bang the dresser, he climbedinto bed without noticing hte other occupant. Francis curled up with a pillow before he realized there was another person in the bed.

"What the hell..." Francis said loudly. Erin's eyes popped opened and she screamed.

Erin grabbed the pillow and began to hit Francis as hard as she could. "Get out! Get Out!"

"Ow! Hey, stop it! What the hell are you doing in my room?" Francis yelled.

"What is going on in there?" Lois yelled as she barged in the room and was shocked to see her son. "Francis, what are you doing here?"

"I came home. It's Dad's birthday on Sunday." Francis said and winced when Lois took the pillow from Erin and hit him again.

"What was that for?" Francis demanded.

"Put some pants on." Lois answered. "And welcome home."

Please review! I would appreciate if I didn't get anymore flames though. But to the person who said it was corny as hell, would you please review again? But this time, be pleasant and tell me what you would like to see changed. Or at least sign in so I can read your stories and see how good of a judge on corny you are.

I know I said that it was Francis/Erin, but I'm adding some tension first. That always makes things fun.


End file.
